Thursday, February 1, 2007

When Bad Things Happen To Good Dolls

**Because appending notes to old posts is easier than writing new ones... post-script added below...

I was greeted, when I returned home from teaching yesterday, by this apparition: WonderBaby's Holly Hobby doll (a gift from her bad grandma), strapped into a toy stroller and decked out in do-rag and bling (and yes, one mitten and one evening glove. It's cold out, you know.)

This, WonderBaby's caregiver informed me, was entirely the work of WonderBaby: she strapped Holly (Puff Holly? P-Holl?) into the stroller, she placed the bling around her neck, she put the mitt and glove on, and (this is, I feel, the most staggering thing) she fashioned the do-rag.

Late-breaking edit - so, you know how I made a point of shunning the big blog awards last fall? This award is different... about as inclusive as you can get and still call it an award. Mom-101 nominated me for Most Thought-Provoking, which was just so flattering, because I really should be up for Most Neurotic, and/or Most Likely To Use Unnecessarily Big Words, but those weren't categories, so, um, anyway... SHARE THE LOVE.Oh, and speaking about sharing the love, think about visiting the Basement, if you haven't been by lately...

40 Comments:

Ha! I'm actually snorting for-here-grande-nonfat-latte out my nose. I've been obsessing all day over your post and all the links from Tuesday and getting all angsty and waffling between relativism and judgment and trying to find a middle path and not wanting to offend anybody and be true to my own (judgmental) ideals and wondering whether to blog it and how and

now a be-blinged 'Holly-Ho'

Teehee. What's really wonderful is WonderBaby's timely reminder to us all that, really, our children are their own little selves, not carrying (for now) the baggage we carry, the weight of intellectualizing everything, full of their own ideas, personalities, games, and such. And they are perversely naively joyful in spite of all our earnestness and handwringing.

It does the heart glad.

Don't get me wrong: I'm all for intellectualizing, for handwringing and for earnestness. It's my way. And so I worry about what happens to daughters with tacky dolls, with mothers who drink or not. The worrying and earnestness is my job -- the playing and innocence is Miss Baby's.

I guess sometimes, when this joy is at odds with our worries, we can't do much but let the weight lift and indulge in a good (if a little bit ironic) laughing fit.

i can only hope that once my son is old enough to carry around his lil peanut my-first-doll in his mini-moby-wrap that i am sure we are destined to buy for him (because what boy does not want to be just like both his moms), that he will so bedeck his baby!

and thanks for dropping by via blogwhore! amazing how one woman in rural wisconsin can bring so many people together!

This is why I gave into the Bratz/Barbie phase. It's in them to love it. I figure if I buy the freaking dolls and teach them what is right in the world, I'm still doing okay. Truth is, I had Barbies too and I turned out just fine.

I love the two different gloves and the do-rag. WB is down with the Hollyzizzle. ;)

I guess she thought Holly was too frumpy and needed a little fashion advice.

You can't win with these kinds of things, can you? I'm lucky that so far the only thing Cordy does with dolls is put cups on their heads for hats. But I know I could get blindsided by a Princess fetish at any moment, and I try to keep myself ready for it.

Holly looks rather regal, I think. Sort of like if the Queen Mother got a bit too tipsy. Little girls DO like the shiny. We have managed to avoid Bratz, but have a whole brothel worth of Barbies lounging about.

Bettah not let that doll roll in the wrong neighborhood sportin' her colors like that.They'll pop a cap in her ass.I think it's Holly Hobizzy, by the way.At least that's what my inner gangsta tells me.

Looovely. Perhaps Wonder Baby and my little Widget would like to terrorize the accessories aisle together. Widget (boy, age 2) picked out a looovely little pair of pink princess sunglasses at the CVS tonight. I started to steer him to the blue pair, but he would have none of it. And why should he? There were dozens of pink flowery glasses with rose-colored lenses. One stinkin' blue pair and a gray. At least the kid's got taste. Can we chalk both experiences up to ... creativity?

I haven't seen a Holly Hobby doll in, geepers, like 25 years.When I was a kid EVERYTHING I owned was Holly Hobby: sheets, bedspread, curtains, dresses, throw rug, shower curtain...UNDERPANTS!Holly Ho-B...I snarfed my coffee!WonderBaby needs to be on the next Project Runway! Cuz that? Is some stylin'!

I think she more gypsied it up than Bratzed it up. Because she doesn't look like a prostitute, and really that is the gold standard in deciding if something looks Bratz-y. You ask yourself, "Could I imagine this toy standing on the street corner in that bad parts of town catcalling to men?" If you answer "Yes." then it is Bratz-y. If you answer "No." you are safe. *lol*